June 14
By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion
100 Years ago – 1924
The Bassett Theatre reopened under the management of John Hamilton, of Hamilton Theatre in Martinsville. The Bassett Theatre had been renovated , with an exhaust fan installed and two machines so as to avoid stops (presumably in the showing of films and rolls were changed). Staff were Miss Kate Crews, Miss Pearl Woody, Mr. George Bassett and Mr. Jean Johnson. John Hamilton also operated the Marshall Way Theatre of Fieldale.
75 years ago – 1949
Governor’s Highway Safety Committee Field Representative G.C. Tubbs was in Martinsville to organize a local Safety Council. The council would serve the counties of Henry, Patrick, Franklin and Floyd, to carry out the mission of educating the public about the hazards of traffic accidents.
1960
Miss Elsie Gray Minter, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. Owen Minter of 611 E. Church St., won a Fulbright Scholarship for a year’s graduate study abroad. She held three degrees and was a candidate for a doctoral degree. She won the scholarship on the basis of her grades at The University of North Carolina. She was planning to study French literature at the University of Paris.
50 years ago – 1974
Construction on Henry County’s $1.1 million jail was continuing with expected completion date in July. [That jail served the area for almost 50 years, until the current Henry County Correctional Facility was built on the former DuPont site.] That old jail (opened in 1960) is to the right of, and slightly behind, the Henry County Administration Building, which itself had not been built as of 1960. It was barely in the planning stages. That proposed county administration building was estimated to cost between $2.5 million and $3 million. In June of 1960, architects were preparing the working drawings on the office building.
25 years ago - 1999
Showing at MovieTown: “The Spy Who Shagged Me,” “Notting Hill,” “Trippin’”, “The Mummy” and “Instinct.”
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.